I really wish he had. I literally had the experience described with a brand new Windows PC (a Dell) that my uncle purchased: * Unbox and boot the machine (Wind

I really wish he had. I literally had the experience described with a brand new Windows PC (a Dell) that my uncle purchased: * Unbox and boot the machine (Windows 8, stock Dell image) * Connect to a network * 1st things 1st, remove the trial McAfee A/V and reboot * 2nd things 2nd, install updates... * 3 hours and an untold number of updates and reboots later * Update failed to install, please try restarting * Investigate error message * Download and run Microsoft "Fix It" tool * Fail to install update; investigate further I dumped an entire evening in to filtering through support discussions trying to find a valid solution to this failed update, working under the assumption that the Windows 8.1 update would be installed somewhere along the line with the automatic updates. Finally, I decided to download the Windows 8.1 update for IT administrators, and just try applying it. Eureka! That did the trick. It is patently absurd that this is the experience a new computer user should be expected to endure.